On Thursday morning, over 100 women came out in force to protest the brutal murder of their monarch in the Umuezeokoha community of Ezza North Local Government Area, Ebonyi State.
His Majesty Eze Igboke Ewa, Chairman of Ezza Traditional rulers council, was shot dead last Sunday evening by unknown gunmen suspected of being political thugs in the state.
His offence, according to the investigation was because he was not supporting a particular party, ahead of the 2023 general election.
The women, who were in a mournful state, were seen matching along Umuezeokoha road with placards of various inscriptions, such as “We are not happy”, Enough of the killings”, Stop politicizing our Eze’s death”, “No more killings,” “Shed blood no more in Umuezeokoha”, “Our Igwe is gone”, “Umuezeokoha is sacred,” “We value life”, “Where is our Ezeogo” among others.
Speaking on behalf of the women, Dr Mrs Ngozi Ogeta who called for the intervention of the State Government and relevant Non-Governmental Organizations, and NGOs into the matter, explained that they were not happy over the sudden demise of their king.
She said: “We are mourning the death of our monarch. We are gathered here today to tell the whole world how our Monarch was murdered.
“We are not happy with the way the death of the king is being attributed to politics. People should not mock us because our king is dead. We have lost 16 of our stakeholders and we are not happy that our king has been taken away from us.
“They have pursued us in our places of aboard. What have we done wrong?. The person that killed our king will not go scot-free, whether it is our son or our enemies. Ebonyi State Government and NGOs should help us. Our place is not known for killings but for love and peace”.
“We, the women of Umuezeokoha have gathered and God must avenge the death of our king. Let his death not be politicized. We, the Women and daughters of Umuezeokoha are not happy about this. They should leave us alone.”
Also, Mrs Eunice Francis Ezaka called on God to avenge the death of their king and bring the perpetrators to book.
“Our king was a kind man. We love him. It’s a great loss for us and we advise people do not to make mockery of what happened to us. Putting politics into the incident is putting more pain into it. They should not use our Eze’s death for political purposes.”